Three new chicks joined our family on the 4th of November. No brooder needed! Mamma is taking good care of them. They are the product of a wyandotte daddy and a leghorn mom. They were all fluffy and mostly white with some yellow tufts on them. Adorable. It will be interesting to see what color eggs they lay in the spring. Feral Jane came for a visit and tried to get photos of them but Mom is camera shy and kept the chicks under her when the camera was out.
Feral Janes visit was very productive. A few months ago she was cleaning out a closet for her Mom and found the original (Italian) family recipe for pasta sauce and meatballs. We spent the two days she was here making the sauce and the meatballs. While the sauce was simmering for hours, we made homemade ravioli. And of course .... the chatter. Feral Jane and I have been friends since Jr high. We have never... ever lacked for topics of conversation. The recipe for meatballs, after everything is added, comes out to about 3 pounds of meatballs. That's a lot of meatballs. Or it should have been. We were all surprised at how quickly they disappeared. Almost a quarter of them were gone before dinner was even ready. Jimmy kept pausing fallout 4 to come up and snipe meatballs. He seemed to have uncanny timing for knowing exactly when they were coming out of the pan.
Fallout 4 must be pretty good. Jimmy had a near breakdown when the power went out for 30 hours in the middle of the game. We have been living in our little haven north of Seattle for almost 4 years now and we know when the electricity goes out (and we are trapped in the house) that we are some of the last ones to get power back on. We are pretty prepared for the eventuality... lanterns, candles, camp stoves, firewood, old school transistor radio and plenty of propane for cooking easy meals and boiling water to do the dishes with. We can do three to five days on our own easily. Usually no power is a very relaxing time around here. We read or play cribbage in front of the fire and of course we break into the good stuff to keep away the 'ague'. This time not so relaxing..... Jimmy was half way through fallout 4 when the juice was cut off. He spent 30 hours not wanting to build fires or relax into the 'no power' routine that we have developed over the years. He was convinced for thirty hours that the power would be back on in 15 minutes so 'we don't need to bring in firewood because the power will be back on in 15 minutes" "We don't need to dig out the stored propane because the power will be back on in 15 minutes" His hopeful little heart almost gave me hypothermia. I finally resorted to the car. He found me and the dog sitting in the nice warm idling car ...charging my phone. He crawled into the car with us and put the ( no longer shaking from cold) dog on his lap. We chatted amiably for a few minutes and then he figured it out "you're not getting out of the car until I build a fire ...are ya?". For those of you who know Jimmy well, I don't need to explain that he had to come to this on his own. For those who don't know him.... yes, I am capable of bringing in firewood and yes, I can build a mean fire. I don't need him or his permission to do it. What I do need is the peace and quiet that comes with his acceptance and compliance. I couldn't have him thinking that I had jinxed his 'the power will back on in 15 minutes" magical mantra chant. And fire was built. He busied himself then tending to said fire. I started running a betting pool in my own head. When the power comes back on will he pretend to be cool and mosey down the stairs or will he jump up and take the stairs two at a time. I 'm pretty sure I skewed the natural outcome by telling him of my internal betting pool. He put odds on taking the stairs two at a time. When the power came back on though... he was cool. He got up from the fire, blew out the candles , turned off the lanterns and let the dog out to do his business . Then he stood at the top of the stairs and gave me one last long look before descending gracefully into the bowels of the house. I haven't seen him since.
Feral Janes visit was very productive. A few months ago she was cleaning out a closet for her Mom and found the original (Italian) family recipe for pasta sauce and meatballs. We spent the two days she was here making the sauce and the meatballs. While the sauce was simmering for hours, we made homemade ravioli. And of course .... the chatter. Feral Jane and I have been friends since Jr high. We have never... ever lacked for topics of conversation. The recipe for meatballs, after everything is added, comes out to about 3 pounds of meatballs. That's a lot of meatballs. Or it should have been. We were all surprised at how quickly they disappeared. Almost a quarter of them were gone before dinner was even ready. Jimmy kept pausing fallout 4 to come up and snipe meatballs. He seemed to have uncanny timing for knowing exactly when they were coming out of the pan.
Fallout 4 must be pretty good. Jimmy had a near breakdown when the power went out for 30 hours in the middle of the game. We have been living in our little haven north of Seattle for almost 4 years now and we know when the electricity goes out (and we are trapped in the house) that we are some of the last ones to get power back on. We are pretty prepared for the eventuality... lanterns, candles, camp stoves, firewood, old school transistor radio and plenty of propane for cooking easy meals and boiling water to do the dishes with. We can do three to five days on our own easily. Usually no power is a very relaxing time around here. We read or play cribbage in front of the fire and of course we break into the good stuff to keep away the 'ague'. This time not so relaxing..... Jimmy was half way through fallout 4 when the juice was cut off. He spent 30 hours not wanting to build fires or relax into the 'no power' routine that we have developed over the years. He was convinced for thirty hours that the power would be back on in 15 minutes so 'we don't need to bring in firewood because the power will be back on in 15 minutes" "We don't need to dig out the stored propane because the power will be back on in 15 minutes" His hopeful little heart almost gave me hypothermia. I finally resorted to the car. He found me and the dog sitting in the nice warm idling car ...charging my phone. He crawled into the car with us and put the ( no longer shaking from cold) dog on his lap. We chatted amiably for a few minutes and then he figured it out "you're not getting out of the car until I build a fire ...are ya?". For those of you who know Jimmy well, I don't need to explain that he had to come to this on his own. For those who don't know him.... yes, I am capable of bringing in firewood and yes, I can build a mean fire. I don't need him or his permission to do it. What I do need is the peace and quiet that comes with his acceptance and compliance. I couldn't have him thinking that I had jinxed his 'the power will back on in 15 minutes" magical mantra chant. And fire was built. He busied himself then tending to said fire. I started running a betting pool in my own head. When the power comes back on will he pretend to be cool and mosey down the stairs or will he jump up and take the stairs two at a time. I 'm pretty sure I skewed the natural outcome by telling him of my internal betting pool. He put odds on taking the stairs two at a time. When the power came back on though... he was cool. He got up from the fire, blew out the candles , turned off the lanterns and let the dog out to do his business . Then he stood at the top of the stairs and gave me one last long look before descending gracefully into the bowels of the house. I haven't seen him since.
